World Test Championship final.
50-over World Cup final.
T20 World Cup game in Gros Islet.
Two hundreds in the ongoing Test series in Australia.
A mere glance at the above-mentioned knocks is enough to gauge that India have had a Travis Head-shaped problem over the last 18 months or so. There is another piece of the Head-jigsaw which gives a further indicator that the Indian pacers, including Jasprit Bumrah, have found it rather hard to dislodge their nemesis. His averages over the preceding four Test rubbers are as follows – 36.20, 16.2, 39.6 and 17.25. In the current Test series, he is averaging a whopping 98.
The latest of his hundreds came in the crucial Gabba Test, with Australia recovering from 75 for 3 to end the day’s play at 405 for 7. Curiously, if you transport yourself back to the Perth Test, India seemed to have finally chiselled out a method while bowling to Head. In the first innings in Perth, Harshit Rana bowled a peach of a delivery that angled in on a good length from round the wicket and then left him on the angle to rattle the off stump. It was basically the dream ball to Head.
The left-hand batter is more of a back-foot player and shuffles a little bit. He then either plays inside the line or throws the kitchen sink at deliveries with any kind of width on offer. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he played for the inward angle, only for the ball to nip away and crash into the off stump. In the second innings of the same Test, India tried Plan B and succeeded once more.
The initial strategy was to bowl straighter lines, then push the batter back with a short delivery. Eventually, the dangled carrot was offered – a hint of width. Head duly obliged by edging one to the cordon. The crux of the plan was to entice Head to maximise his strengths. In other words, it could be called defence-turned-into-offence.
However, everything has gone pear-shaped since then for the visitors. It was somewhere in the 51st over of Australia innings in Adelaide that Head started to gain the upper hand as far as the current series is concerned. From a round-the-wicket angle, Rana provided some width and Head took advantage of it with a slash. After tea, Rana continued to give him room.
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Even Bumrah, the pace-spearhead, bowled a delivery or two wide of off. The point is further exemplified by the fact that Head collected four boundaries between over number 67 and over number 71, with all of them turning out to be deliveries bowled in the fifth or sixth-stump channel.
When the Indian pace trio bowled full and on the stumps, it didn’t seem to do much off the seam or the line was drifting down the leg-side. India also didn’t try any of the trump cards to surprise the batter – the bumper, yorker or the dipping slower ones. Head went on to compile a 141-ball 140. India’s misery didn’t stop there as even at the Gabba, Rohit Sharma, the bowlers and the rest of the team members had to wade through a long phase of watching the crack sound of Head’s willow meeting the leather.
Interestingly, this time around, the likes of Nitesh Reddy, Mohammad Siraj and even Bumrah looked to attack Head with an over-the-wicket angle. Due to their front-on actions, Siraj and Bumrah, in particular, would mostly angle it across Head. This could play into Head’s hands as if the line is slightly wider, he is set to bring out the cut or punch. Moreover, as Head plays inside the line, there is more chance of beating the bat rather than inducing him to eke out an edge.
Ultimately, when Bumrah shifted to a round-the-wicket angle and ushered in a short ball at Head’s body, he upper-cut it over the ‘keeper’s head. Incidentally, India neither had a forward short-leg nor a fly slip for Head. When the plan is to bang in the ball short delivery, one expects a field that is set accordingly. India soon abandoned that plan as well. At that juncture, it almost felt as if there was no conviction behind any of those plans. No wonder, Head once more tormented India.
In that context, the press conference of Morne Morkel, India’s bowling coach, gains significance. He said: “Our plan going into this game was to bowl a little bit more over the wicket, a straighter line. We felt he played it quite nicely in Adelaide when we came around. The margins to him are just so small and like I said, once he’s in, what is the best way for the team and for you to maybe slow down the scoring rate because you know he’s going to be aggressive.”
That statement once again raises concerns over India’s lack of belief in their formulated plans. It also makes you wonder whether it was mostly poor execution that resulted in Head countering the round-the-wicket angle in Adelaide. Whatever may be the case, India seem to have developed a mental block while bowling to Head. The one-liner that aptly describes the current situation could be: Travis has got inside the heads of the Indian players.
Also Read: Bumrah brilliance aside, what was India’s bowling plan?